(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The dark states have increasing middle age death rates the light states are decreasing! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-19 Death rate trends by state in the United States show a great deal of variation in direction and amount of change. In the map the numbers in the state show how death rates have changed from 2007 through 2019. The dark colored are states with the positive numbers are where the age 25-64 non-Hispanic whites have had increasing death rates while the lighter colors with negative numbers have had declining death rates. California with its -0.96 has the strongest declining death rate. If you find understanding this difficult, look at the table with easy to understand average state percent change per year at the end of this write-up. California publicly denied the health insurance industry the right to deny care because Natalie Sarkisyan died in December of 2007 a few hours after the insurance company, after denying care three times, finally agreed to pay for a transplant. With help from the California nurse’s organization, her parents got substantial publicity. An internet search for her unique name fourteen years after she died comes up with more than 2,500 hits. There is another aspect of this unique event and the relationship to California mortality described in the book Deadly Spin by Wendell Potter (8). Potter was a high executive in health insurance public relations when Natalie Sarkisyan died and his experience using public relations tools to take the blame for her death away from a private health insurance company, caused him to leave the health insurance industry and write the best description we have of how the private health insurance industry makes more money by denying care. If anyone can figure out how to contact Mr. Potter, let me know There is a short description of Potter’s description of what happened. here: www.nytimes.com/... The arrangement of declining versus increasing death rates is surprising and I can only find an explanation for one state, California. Back around 2007 the health insurance industry pushed to put in a system where they were able to deny paying for care recommended by doctors. Over the years since 2007 the private health insurance industry has not been allowed to systematically deny care in California. The map above suggest that California was not alone but it did have the most consistent declining middle age death rate. If you find the geography of declining versus increasing death rates surprising, you are not alone. I will end with this short write-up with a list of states sorted by yearly average in percent change in non-Hispanic white death rates for age 25-54 from 2007 through 2019. They range from a -4.1 for Hawaii, their death rate averaged a 4.1 percent decline per year, they have a unique health care system and there is no way other states can replicate their results, followed by California with a -3.1 average percent change. For example California’s death rate declined from 239.4 deaths per 100,000 to 201.3. West Virginia and New Hampshire, at the bottom, tie with the largest percent increase and average increase in. their death rate of 6.8 percent per year. West Virginia’s death rate increased from 369.7 in 2007 to 430.4 in 2019. I find the fact that West Virginia’s death rate is more than twice as high as California’s tells me that our states rights dominated middle age health care delivery system really needs to change. If you find you are unhappy with your state’s rate of change in middle age death rates you need to let your state’s private health insurance regulatory body know you are unhappy. Average percent change in death rate State per year from 2007 thru 2019 Hawaii -4.1 California -3.1 Oregon -2.8 Texas -2.7 Oklahoma -2.6 Nevada -2.3 Montana -2.3 Wyoming -2.3 District of Columbia -1.5 Colorado -1.4 Washington -1.3 Louisiana -1.3 Alaska -1.1 Arkansas -0.6 Utah -0.5 Arizona -0.2 Idaho -0.1 Kansas 0 Illinois 0.3 Minnesota 0.4 Georgia 0.4 Iowa 0.5 New York 0.5 Missouri 0.6 Florida 0.9 Nebraska 0.9 Mississippi 1.1 North Dakota 1.3 New Mexico 1.3 Virginia 1.3 Michigan 1.3 Rhode Island 1.4 North Carolina 1.6 South Dakota 1.6 Wisconsin 1.7 Alabama 1.8 South Carolina 2.1 Tennessee 2.5 Massachusetts 2.9 Delaware 2.9 Pennsylvania 3.2 New Jersey 3.4 Maryland 3.4 Vermont 3.6 Indiana 3.7 Connecticut 4 Ohio 5.1 Kentucky 5.1 Maine 5.5 West Virginia 6.8 New Hampshire 6.8 by Dr. James H. Gundlach, Professor Emeritus, Sociology, Auburn University, If you would like detailed data for your state or have detailed questions, email me at: pecanjim@bellsouth.net [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/19/2181787/-The-dark-states-have-increasing-middle-age-death-rates-the-light-states-are-decreasing Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/